TCR Spa 500: 2019
Intended to act as a showpiece event for the TCR regulations, the TCR Spa 500 was an attempt to revive endurance touring car racing at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Historically the Spa 24 Hour had served this purpose, but with that event having switched to GT cars in recent decades, an opening had appeared for a new touring car race.
Unfortunately, it turned out there wasn't much of an appetite for such an event. The organisers - WSC, the creators of TCR and Creventic, who run the successful 24H Series - had hoped to attract a large field of teams from around the world representing all of TCR's manufacturers. In reality, just 17 teams took the start of the 23-hour event.
Earlier in 2019 the organisers had published an entry list of over 30 cars, including some high-profile teams like WRT, Team Dynamics and Comtoyou Racing; though none of these would be present come race weekend. Several of the non-European teams did race though, which helped the event's international feel, and there were some notable tin-top drivers on the grid.
However it was hard to ignore the underwhelming entry numbers, and while a 2020 running was announced, it never happened. Partially this can also be put down to the timing of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's difficult to imagine the event would've happened even without that. Strangely the event was never officially announced as having been cancelled; it just simply ceased to exist.
With no mention of the event since, it's safe to say the idea of a crown jewel TCR endurance race is dead. While the concept was appealing, there simply didn't appear to be enough interest from teams to make it work.